Croatia confident of meeting EU reform deadline

Croatia’s foreign minister Gordan Jandrović has said that Zagreb will meet a key June reform deadline allowing the country to progress towards EU entry in 2010.

Jandrović, in Brussels on Tuesday for talks with EU enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn, told journalists that Zagreb would meet the summer deadline on completing 11 pre-negotiation ‘benchmarks’ set by Brussels as a condition for EU entry negotiations.

“We are ready to do it and we will do it,” he said of the June target date.

Jandrović also said that in talks with Rehn he had emphasised Croatia’s readiness to do whatever it takes to meet the EU’s criteria for full membership and to join the bloc in 2010.

“I am pleased with the fact that last week the EU advised that the opening benchmarks have been met in three chapters and that Croatia has been invited to submit their negotiating position on these chapters.

“We consider this to be the first visible sign of a more dynamic negotiating process and are encouraged by commission president Barroso’s statement, following his meeting with Croatian prime minister Sanader, that the commission will this autumn produce an indicative timetable for the technical conclusion of negotiations in 2009.”

Jandrović said 2008 would be a “crucial year in terms of efforts needed to meet the criteria for membership” and that he hoped to complete two more benchmark chapters by the end of April, and the remainder by the end of the Slovenian EU presidency.

Rehn said he was confident that Croatia could join the EU in 2010, as long as the country met all the benchmarks by June.

“Croatia has good prospects of progress but also plenty of work ahead, particularly on judicial and public administration reform and in the fight against corruption,” said Rehn.

“I hope that Croatia will soon be able to meet the outstanding benchmarks in the negotiations so that some of the more difficult chapters, such as competition policy and public procurement, can be opened.

“Overall, the negotiations with Croatia have been advancing well and I want to congratulate the foreign minister for their success at the Nato summit last week. This is very important for stability and progress in Croatia, in the western Balkans and for Europe.

“If Croatia achieves the necessary results, I am confident that substantial progress in the negotiations can be made this year.

“The rest depends on Croatia meeting the benchmarks,” he added, “Otherwise the technical timetable becomes almost impossible to achieve.”


Published: Tue, 8 Apr 2008 14:02:32 GMT+02
Author: Brian Johnson
"We are ready to do it and we will do it"
Croatia’s foreign minister Gordan Jandrović on meeting a June reform deadline
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Slovenia Recognises Kosovo, Croatia Next

Slovenia Recognises Kosovo, Croatia Next
Less than half an hour ago the Slovene parliament voted 57 votes pro and four votes con, recognising Kosovo’s independence.

Nataša Zečević

Lajla Mlinarić

After a day-long discussion at the Slovene parliament, Slovene MPs raised their hands in recognition of Kosovo some half an hour ago. The recognition of the former Serbian province was endorsed by 57 MPs, while only four MPs voted against, Slovenia’s Delo daily reported.

Interestingly enough, MPs of the SNS headed by Zmago Jelincic, known in Croatia for his controversial stands in which he laid claim to Croatian terriroty, were against Kosovo’s recognition. Jelincic explained why he was against Slovenia recognising Kosovo by stating that “Slovenia had stabbed Serbia in the back” with this move.

- This is one of Slovenia’s biggest mistakes. We will have no use of the recognition, only economic losses – Jelincic said.

At the same time, Slovene Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel today in parliament rationalised that Slovenia’s recognition of Kosovo had nothing to do with alleged American pressures.

Balkans: EU Praises Croatia, Fears Serbia Backlash

BRUSSELS -- A snapshot of the race toward the goal of EU membership reveals a scattered field. Croatia is long out of the starting blocks with Macedonia about to do the same, while Albania and Montenegro are still warming up. Serbia has yet to show up and threatens to pull out, should Kosovo also be invited.

The European Union's executive arm, the European Commission, has issued a report reviewing the progress of reforms in the western Balkan countries -- all of which are guaranteed to join the EU one day. The commission also unveiled a new initiative to tighten the region's transport links with the rest of the continent.

Ahead of a trip to Zagreb for talks with the Croatian government, EU's Enlargement Commissioner Olli gave his strongest hint yet that Croatia could wrap up its membership talks with the EU before the year is out.

"My intention is to send encouraging messages to Croatia as regards its EU accession negotiations because it can make this year, 2008, a decisive year -- or the decisive year -- on the conditions that the benchmarks [set by the EU] are met shortly by Croatia," Rehn said in Brussels.

The EU wants Croatia to speed up judicial and administrative reforms, rein in corruption, restructure its shipbuilding industry, and rescind its claim to a "fishing and ecological" zone in the Adriatic, which irks neighbors Italy and Slovenia, both EU member states.

Croatia is in a tight race to finalize its talks with the EU before the European Parliament elections in June 2009, so as to be able to join the bloc by 2011.

The EU's relations with Serbia, on the other hand, have nose-dived since most of the bloc's member states recognized Kosovo's independence, which it proclaimed on February 17.

Officials in Brussels have dropped dark hints about Serbia's potential to ruin much of the EU's good work in the Balkans, which the bloc subsidizes to the tune of 1 billion euros ($1.5 billion) a year -- the highest levels of per capita EU aid anywhere.

Rehn stressed on March 5 that Serbia is key to stability in the region, and called upon Belgrade to heed its people's wish to build closer ties with the EU. "I'm fully aware that a great majority of Serbian people consistently support EU membership," he said. "It should be a realistic expectation that the Serbian government listens to this silent majority."

However, Rehn went on to ruefully note that "certain recent statements from Belgrade seem to rule [this] out."

He said the Serbian government must now make its intentions clear. As things stand, this could lead to a formal severing of ties between the two sides, as Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica has called on all political parties in Serbia to reject formal ties with the EU, unless it reverses its decision to work with an independent Pristina.

Rehn said the "EU is on standby" for developing closer relations with Serbia, but noted "it takes two" to conduct consultations that could lead to formal accession talks.

Reflecting deep-seated divisions among the EU's own member states over Kosovo, Rehn confined himself to a single sentence in reference to the erstwhile Serbian province, saying the EU remains committed to working toward an eventual conclusion to its status. A small but vocal minority of EU member states, led by Spain and Cyprus, does not recognize Kosovo for fear of setting a precedent for domestic separatists.

The EU is worried that Serbian resentment in the region could prompt Bosnia's Serbs to declare independence in their turn. Rehn did not address this concern directly, but said the EU remains prepared to sign a Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) with Bosnia-Herzegovina as soon as April.

Rehn said the region's stragglers, Albania and Montenegro, still need to "convince" the EU they are able to implement their own SAAs.

Regarding Macedonia, Rehn said the country is close to being able to "demonstrate" to the EU it is ready to launch accession talks, possibly already this year.

Rehn said the country needs to speed up reforms of the judiciary and public administration, and properly implement police reform and anticorruption laws. He warned though, that Skopje may find its progress towards EU membership blocked by Greece, which does not accept the country's right to call itself Macedonia.

Support for Croatia’s NATO, EU Entry Rises

Support for Croatia’s NATO, EU Entry Rises
The increased support of Croatia’s access to NATO and the EU can be explained by an unstable neighbourhood and a fear of new conflicts.

Lajla Mlinarić
I.K./Hina

ZAGREB, CROATIA – A survey conducted by the Promocija plus agency indicates that 54.2 of those surveyed supported Croatia’s access into NATO, which is the highest support rate registered so far. 37 percent of those surveyed oppose Croatia’s entry into NATO, while 8.8 percent are indecisive.

Support of Croatia’s accession to the European Union also rose by four percent and amounts to 53.7 percent, which is interesting because tensions between Croatia and the EU and the subject of the ZERP (Protected Ecology and Fisheries Zone) have been topical in the past few days. The increased support can be explained by an unstable neighbourhood.

Those surveyed assessed that the most important issue in February was Kosovo’s independence. The second most important issue was the ZERP, which citizens connect to Croatia’s accession into the EU.

The research was conducted between February 29 and March 1 on a sample of 1,300 people.

Can Cabinet`s Solution On ZERP Soften Slovenia Up?

Compromise with which the Croatian cabinet is planning to end the ZERP torment is fishing with compensation.


ZAGREB, CROATIA – Torment when it comes to the Protected Ecological Fishery Zone (ZERP) is over, it seems. As Prime Minister Ivo Sanader announced several days ago, the cabinet has a solution. Even though he did not wish to reveal it to reporters, Parliament president Luka Bebic did it instead, pointing out that fishing for foreigners will be enabled for compensation.

Croatia is to propose such an agreement to Rome and Ljubljana at a quadrateral meeting, which should be held on March 13 when the European Council will meet, according to Sanader.



Croatian Peasants` Party (HSS) president Josip Friscic is pleased with fishing for compensation. In a conversation over the telephone, he told us that such a compromise is the result of efforts in the cabinet to put an end to the issue of ZERP.

Still, Friscic points out that an agreement with the neighbors first needs to be made. Although Rome has not confirmed its arrival on the quadrateral meeting, Friscic expects Italy to agree to the meeting.

The HSS president did not wish to discuss all the details about the compromise because they need to be ratified with the neighbors first, he says. According to him, the amount of fish and the amount of the compensation charges need to be determined.

- Such matters will be solved with rules of conduct, for instance, which types of fish are protected, where fishing is allowed and where it is banned – Friscic told us.

However, even though such an offer is on the brink of solving the disputable issue, a question remains: to what extent is the Coast guard “equipped”, which is supposed to control excessive fishing by the neighbors.

Friscic claims such control is already functioning well and that the Coast guard has intercepted 24 Italian fishing boats in the ZERP area during January alone. On the other hand, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) do not see an end to torment in relation to ZERP. Neven Mimica claims the way Slovenia and Italy will react to the mentioned proposal remains a mystery.

According to him, there will be no solution during the first meeting, but the solution will be stalled.



- Italian technical government is not prepared to give answers on this matter, while Slovene wikimedia commons-.-politicians are entering their election campaign and it is not likely they will give up on national bribe which they have created over ZERP – Mimica told us. Also, the SDP member continues, the question is if European partners will give up on the thesis that we have broken a promise given in Brussels in 2004 when we said we would not apply ZERP on EU members.

Still, Mimica underlines that the most important thing is the fact time is running by. Elections are schedule for June in the European Parliament and Croatia should end negotiations by then, which will never happen, according to Mimica. Slovenia ceases to be the presiding country of the EU in June and it is also questionable when will Italy form a new cabinet, the SDP member explains. All of this prolongs Croatia`s date of ending negotiations and the end of June is mission impossible, therefore Mimica concludes the time of “hard negotiating” is before Croatia.

- The government wants to make it seem like the solution is at hand, but this is not true – Mimica points out.


The problem is also, our collocutor continues, in the control of ZERP. The government has not realised four key matters over the zone in 4 years, Mimica points out.

- This is organisation of surveillance, we lack ships and Coast guard commanding officers, our fishermen have no use from the zone, none of the new fishing boats have been allowed to fish and the renewal of the fishing fleet was announced – Mimica elaborates, adding that there is a diplomatic problem with European partners in relation to the promise from 2004.

The fourth unrealised matter, according to Mimica, is of a legislative nature: what is the biologic maximum in the zone.

- We don`t know what amount of fish are our fishermen allowed to fish and what amount are their fishermen allowed – he says.

If ZERP and Croatia entering the EU are placed on a scale, our collocutor concludes, it is not likely anything would weigh for the zone, while on the other hand, it slows down Croatia`s path towards the EU. Our diplomats will surely weigh at the announced quadrateral meeting, and we will find out soon if the Slovenians and Italians will agree to this proposal.

Croatia Needn`t Hurry With Kosovo Recognition

ZAGREB, CROATIA - Speaking at a press conference, the Croatian Social-Liberal Party (HSLS) president and deputy prime minister Djurdja Adlesic did not wish to comment unofficial information that Croatia might recognise Kosovo independence on March 15.

Adlesic said Croatia will follow the path of other European countries, taking care of its priorities above all – EU and NATO membership.

Worrying about Croatian capital in Serbia

She pointed out that Croatia will surely recognise Kosovo, but that the timing needs to be carefully selected.

Adlesic said Croatia needn`t hurry with recognising Kosovo, but to prepare itself well and worry about its capital in Serbia.

She notified that during yesterday`s meeting in Sarajevo with deputy Bosnia-Herzegovina Council of Ministers Presiding Tarik Sadovic, mutual hope was expressed that “all who are disturbed with the fact Kosovo will be recognised, will come to terms with this fact and solve their home political problems”.

Adlesic: Croatia has fulfilled conditions for NATO

Replying to questions if George W. Bush would visit Croatia on April 4, after Croatia receives its NATO invitation at the Bucharest summit, Adlesic said Croatia has fulfilled all its conditions for accessing NATO and that “we can claim with certainty that the invitation is expected”.

The HSLS president did not which to neither confirm nor deny all other speculations.

She pointed out that today`s HSLS Central Assembly sitting decided the party will participate in the cabinet with 4 state secretaries. Analysing the government`s work so far, Adlesic expressed satisfaction with the fact deadlines set by the coalition agreement are being honoured and that a part of HSLS`s election programme has been realised.

HSLS vice president Drazen Breglec notified of successful talks of the party delegation, which has notified liberals in the European Parliament in Brussels of the Protected Ecological Fishery Zone (ZERP) problem. He stresses that HSLS delegates have concluded that liberal representatives in the European Parliament lack information about the state in the Adriatic sea bed.

Slovenia, Hungary, Croatia to wait with recognition

A number of countries have today said they will not immediately recognize Kosovo.

The province's ethnic Albanians' unilaterally declared independence Sunday. Serbia rejected the decision as illegal and declared it null and void. So far, 17 countries have recognized the unilateral secession.

Yesterday, an announcement was made that Hungary and Croatia will wait with the recognition.

The two country's foreign ministers, Kinga Goncz and Gordan Jadroković met in Budapest.

"Croatia will wait until most of the EU member states recognize Kosovo independence," Jadroković said, and added that Zagreb was "closely following the events in Kosovo".

"It will not be easy for Hungary to recognize Kosovo because of the fact that Serbia is its neighbor and that a numerous Hungarian minority lives in Serbia," Goncz assessed.

"It is important for us to maintain good relations with Serbia," she said and underlined that because of all that, Hungary would not be among the first countries to acknowledge Kosovo, adding, however, that her country would do that "in the next couple of weeks", the Hungarian news agency MTI reported.

In Slovenia Friday, the parliament said it will not debate Ljubljana's recognition of Kosovo since the proposal the government sent was "not according to the procedure".

For this reason, officials said, the proposal will not be on the agenda of the next session, scheduled for the end of the month.

Croatia champions cancel trip to Belgrade after riots

Croatian champions Cibona Zagreb cancelled a trip to Belgrade on Friday after Croatia's foreign ministry said it would be too risky in the light of recent unrest in both countries.
Rioters in Belgrade attacked several foreign embassies on Thursday, including Croatia's, after a mass rally against Western support for Kosovo's declaration of independence from Serbia last Sunday.
A group of Croatian soccer fans burnt the Serbian flag in Zagreb's main square on Thursday and police arrested 44 people.
"Following our own assessment of the situation and recommendations of our ambassador in Serbia, the ministry advised Cibona not to travel to Belgrade," said a Croatian ministry statement carried by state news agency Hina.
Cibona were already halfway to Belgrade when they were advised to turn back. They were due to face the top Serbian team, Partizan Belgrade, in a regional championship game on Saturday.
Partizan president Djordje Colovic told Serbian news agency Tanjug the safety of Croatian players was not at risk and that his club would demand the match be awarded to them.
Croatia's foreign ministry advised its citizens earlier this week to be careful if travelling to Serbia or Kosovo and to avoid any large public gatherings.
Croatia broke away from Serbian-led Yugoslavia in 1991 and waged a war with its own Serb minority until 1995.
Croatia and Serbia have established diplomatic ties but sports competitions involving the two countries have remained fraught with tension and the potential for violence.

Hungary and Croatia to hold off on recognizing Kosovo

Hungary and Croatia are to wait before acknowledging Kosovo's independence, the foreign ministers of the two nations said on Thursday after meeting in Budapest.

'It is important for us to keep good relations with Serbia ... Hungary won't be among the first to recognise Kosovo's independence, but this will surely happen in the next few weeks,' MTI news agency quoted Hungarian Foreign Minister Kinga Goncz as saying.

Hungary has a large ethnic minority in neighbouring Serbia, and Goncz said this made recognising Kosovo a delicate question.

Croatian Foreign Minister Gordan Jandrokovic said Croatia would only recognise Kosovo after 'the majority of European Union member states' took the plunge.

The breakaway Serbian province declared its independence on Sunday, triggering mass protests in Belgrade.

Country profile

OVERVIEW


OVERVIEW | FACTS | LEADERS | MEDIA

Accession talks were postponed because of Croatia's failure to detain Gen Ante Gotovina, wanted by the international war crimes tribunal in The Hague. However the green light for the talks to proceed was given in October 2005, and the fugitive general was arrested in Spain shortly afterwards.

Main town square, Zagreb
Zagreb's old town blends the Gothic and Baroque

Croatia hopes to become a member of the EU by 2010, remarkable progress since the time of Tudjman's death in December 1999 when the country was in a parlous state. Its citizens suffered from government-backed attacks on their civil and political rights. The governing party, the HDZ, was then corrupt and the economy was in difficulties, with around 20% of Croatians unemployed.

Presidential and parliamentary elections at the beginning of 2000 ushered in politicians who pledged commitment to Croatia's integration into the European mainstream.

The constitution has been changed to shift power away from the president to the parliament. Croatia has joined the World Trade Organisation and has pledged to open up its economy. It has achieved growth and inflation is under control.

It has rumbling disputes with Slovenia over sea and land borders dating back to the break-up of Yugoslavia and the construction of a controversial coastal bridge that will allow motorists to skirt Bosnian territory has drawn criticism from Bosnia.

A country of striking natural beauty with a stunning Adriatic coastline, Croatia is again very popular as a tourist destination.

FACTS


OVERVIEW | FACTS | LEADERS | MEDIA

* Full name: Republic of Croatia
* Population: 4.6 million (UN, 2007)
* Capital: Zagreb
* Area: 56,594 sq km (21,851 sq miles)
* Major language: Croatian
* Major religion: Christianity
* Life expectancy: 72 years (men), 79 years (women) (UN)
* Monetary unit: 1 kuna = 100 lipa
* Main exports: Machinery and transport equipment, clothing, chemicals
* GNI per capita: US $8,060 (World Bank, 2006)
* Internet domain: .hr
* International dialling code: +385

LEADERS


OVERVIEW | FACTS | LEADERS | MEDIA

President: Stjepan (Stipe) Mesic

Stjepan Mesic won a second five-year term in January 2005. The presidency is a largely ceremonial role.

The president proposes the prime minister but it is for parliament to approve the nomination. The president can dissolve parliament and call elections.

Prime minister: Ivo Sanader

Croatian PM
Ivo Sanader says his party has changed since Tudjman's time

Ivo Sanader, who has been prime minister since 2003, was given a new mandate by the president to form a government after his conservative HDZ party won the most seats in parliamentary elections in November 2007.

The HDZ failed to secure an outright majority in parliament and will therefore need to govern in a coalition.

Mr Sanader, leader of the right-wing Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), has said his party has undergone major change since he took over from the late nationalist president, Franjo Tudjman, and describes it as a traditional conservative party. He has pledged commitment to democracy and the rule of law as well as to upholding human rights and promoting a free market economy.

He has said that EU and Nato membership are the top priority in foreign policy. On the economic front, he aims to address a budget deficit and to reduce the foreign debt.

He comes from an academic background and speaks several languages, including English.

MEDIA


OVERVIEW | FACTS | LEADERS | MEDIA

Croatia's media now operate in a climate of relative freedom following the restrictions of the Tudjman era. The constitution bans censorship and guarantees press freedom.

Croatian Radio-Television, HRT, is a national state-owned public broadcaster and is financed by a mixture of advertising and licence fee revenues. The frequencies of HRT's third national TV network were allocated to a private bidder in September 2003.

Public TV is the main source of news and information for most Croatians. National commercial networks and dozens of private local TV stations compete for viewers.

The press
# Vecernji list - daily, mass-circulation tabloid
# Jutarnji list - mass-circulation daily
# Slobodna Dalmacija - Split-based daily
# Novi list - Rijeka-based daily
# Glas Istre - Pula-based daily
# Poslovni dnevnik - business daily
# Globus - Zagreb-based political weekly
# Feral Tribune - Split-based weekly
# Nacional - Zabreb-based political, cultural weekly
# Business.hr - business weekly

Television
# Croatian TV - public, operates national networks
# RTL Televizija - national, private
# Nova TV - national, private

Radio
# Croatian Radio - public, operates three national networks
# Radio 101 - private, Zagreb area, music-based
# Otvoreni Radio - private, national
# Narodni Radio - private, national

News agencies
# Hina - English-language pages
# Croatian Information Centre - English-language pages